Life-saving apparatus.



No. 866,935. .PATENTED SEPT. 24, 1907.

Y '1). KBREKES & J'. KENDER. Y

LIFE SAVING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 23, 1907.

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LIFE SAVING APPARATUS;

APPLICATION rum) APR. 23, 1907.

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DANIEL KEREKES AND JOSEF KENDER, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

LIFE-SAVING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. '24, 1907.

Application filed April 23, 190i. Serial No. 369,752.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, DANIEL KEREKEs and JosEF KENDER, citizens of tlieUnited States, and residents of Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfieldand State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Life-Saving Apparatuses, of which the following is aspecification. I

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in portable lifesaving devices, of a class to be" transported to fires and therearranged for the reception of persons who desire to escape by jumpingfrom the burning building.

It is the purpose of our invention to provide a device, which canreadily be transported by horses or otherwise to a fire for the purposeof providing safe and comfortable means upon which persons or articlesmay alight with little or no injury; to construct it in a way which willpermit of its ready arrangement and adjustment adjacent to and beneath awindow, door or the eaves of a building; to construct the device in asimple and practical way which will permit of its manipulation by one ortwo persons, with the assistance of a horse or two as may be required totransport it.

With the above objects in view we have devised the simple and novelconstruction shown upon the accompanying two sheets of drawing forming apart of this specification, upon which similar characters of referencedenote like or corresponding parts throughout the several figures and ofwhich,

Figure 1, shows a side elevation of my improved life saving device as inits normal position and ready for transportation. Fig. 2, is a plan viewof the device shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a rear elevation of myiniproved device with part of running gear removed and with the netelevated and adjusted as in use. Fig. 4, is a side elevation of theapparatus adjusted as in use, including the lengthening of the truck,the extension of the bolsters, and the positioning of the posts andextensions to agree with the positions shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5,

is a plan view of the device as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 part of the netbeing broken away.

The apparatus may be mounted upon any suitable running gear as forinstance that commonly employed for fire apparatus, and likewise can betransported by any suitable power preferably horses. The forward andback trucks of the running gear are adjustably connected one to theother so as to form a longitudinal ex tensible vehicle. Each saidforward andback truck portions are provided with a pair of slidablebolsters which are made adjustable crosswise of the vehicle, and to theupper end of these bolsters are secured posts carrying a net that isdrawn up and tightened to the required tension by the adjusting of theseveral parts before mentioned. I

In detail 10 indicates the wheels of the apparatus, 11 rear axle and 12theforward axle which latter may be pivotally connected to the frontframe portion 13 of my device to constitute a forward truck. j

14 indicates a coupling which is slidably mounted in a guideway 15 ofthe rear truck portion 16 and is secured thereto after being adjusted,by means of a suitable pin 17. Each of the forward and back trucks hassecured to its platform a transverse support 18 having attached to theirends a spring catch 19 to guide and retain the hinged post 20 inposition when lowered and supported upon said beam. The bolsters 21 areslidably mounted in the platforms of the trucks and to the outer end ofeach bolster is hinged a post 20, which is also like that applied to theback truck 16. Therefore I will use but one description and set ofreference characters to designate the several sets of said parts.

In the outer transverse portions of the top of said trucks 13 and 16 weprovide an inclosed transverse guideway 22 in which the two bolsters 21are slidably mounted. These bolsters are each provided with transversenotches 23 upon the top side with the guide way and the pawls 24 serveto engage said notches and retain the bolsters in a distended positionafter the same have been manually drawn to such position as shown inFigs. 3, 4 and 5. In the outer end of each bolster is pivoted a lowerpost section 20 in a manner to allow the same to beswungfromsubstantially a horizontal to a raised and outwardly deflected position.Upon the side of each post is hung a pawl 25 which engages a shoulder 26on the back edge of the bolster when the post is raised for the purposeof stretching the net 27.

To the upper end of the section 20 of the post is pivoted an extension28 which is designed to be deflected in an outward direction and at aright angle to the movement of the lower section so as to provide forthe adjustment and tightening of the net crosswise of the vehicle, and aspring 29 secured to the side of the post section 20 serves to engagethe shoulder 30 of the extension in a way to hold said extension in itsdefiected position, and the lug 31 supports the extension againstfurther outward movement. The net 27 is preferably provided with,a rope32 along each side edge and is attached to the upper extension of theposts while a strap 33 is used across the ends of the net which may belaced thereto as shown at 34, to provide a flexible connection. While wehave referred to the part 27 as being a net implying a knitted fabric,yet it may be obviously woven in the form of a sheet and yet answer thesame purpose.

In order to change the apparatus from the position shown in Fig. 1, tothat shown in Fig. 4, the pin 17 would first be removed and the trucksadjusted, apart, whereupon the pin would again be inserted through thecoupling pole to secure the parts in their adjusted position. Thebolster 21 would next be drawn out from the position shown in Fig. 2, tothat shown in Figs. 3 and 5, when their notches 23 would be engaged bythe pawl 24 to hold them against return movement. The posts would nextbe raised from their horizontal to upright positions, whereupon theextensions would likewise be deflected outward which would give to thenet the final stretching adjustment and place it i condition for use.

Having thus described our invention what we claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:-

l. The combination with a pair of trucks adapted to be adjusted withrelation to each other of a pair of extensible bolsters mountedtransversely upon each truck, posts hinged to the outer-ends of thebolsters and adapted to be adjusted from a horizontal to a raisedposition, and a net suspended from the said posts.

2. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with a pair oftrucks adapted to be adjusted with relation to each other, of a pair; ofbolsters slidably mounted upon each of the said trucks, a post pivotedto each of said bolsters and having means for retaining said posts inboth a lowered and raised position, an extension pivoted to said postand adapted to be deflected in an outward direction, and a net thecorners of which are secured to each of said posts.

3. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with a pair oftrucks adapted to be adjustably attached together, of transverseslidahle bolsters, posts hinged to the bolsters, an extension secured toeach of said posts, spring clips to support the extensions in their setpositions, means for supporting the posts in a raised position, and anet secured to each of said posts.

4. In an apparatus of the class described the combination with a pair oftrucks and means for adjusting the same, bolsters slidably mounted uponsaid trucks adapted to be adjusted transversely, means for holding themin such adjusted positions, posts pivoted to swing crosswise of theholsters, extensions of said posts adapted to swing longitudinally withthe holster, means for holding said posts and extension in such adjustedpositions, and a net suspended from said posts.

Signed at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield, and State ofConnecticut this 20th day of April A. D., 1907.

- DANIEL KEREKES.

JOSEF KENDER.

Witnesses: C. M. NEWMAN,

S. E. ALLEN.

